Forgive And Forget
by Kuyuchii
Summary: Roronoa Zoro is dead. Killed by some random Marine. Elsewhere, Red Haired Shanks gains a new crewmate. Green hair, brilliant with swords... Coincidence? Or something completely different?
1. Prolouge

**(I don't own One Piece. Luffy will)**

* * *

All it had taken was one bullet. One bullet, shot by some Marine no-ranker, intended for the blond cook looking in the wrong direction. But he had seen it. He had jumped in front of the bullet's trajectory, the force slamming him into the intended target. The cook had been angry, angry that he had been smashed into like that, before he had seen the blood. He had grabbed onto the blond like he was a lifeline, pulling him down to ground with him as he sank, unable to hold himself upright. With his last breath, he told the man cradling him to look after the crew while he was gone. The cook held his friend's lifeless body in his hands and screamed. He screamed at God, whatever deity had taken his crewmate from him so cruelly. The crew froze, their battle forgotten. What had caused their nakama to scream like that?

But then they saw. They saw the lifeless form the blond cook was clutching, saw the blood pouring into a puddle around the two.

No! They had all sworn to do this together, follow their dreams! And now one of them wouldn't make it... How could they continue fighting without him? He had been there for them all, so many times, and now he was gone, just like that?

Chopper ran over; fight forgotten, tears streaming down his furry face. Prising the bloody form off of the shell-shocked cook, he confirmed what they had all already known in their hearts.

Roronoa Zoro was dead.

* * *

**so yea, this is like a tester^^ the title sucks, will change it soon probably;)**

**please review, tell me if you liked it, hated it, think it's worth continuing etc.**

**Jelly xx**


	2. Grief

**Thanks SO MUCH for all your lovely reviews! Means so much to me that you could be bothered to review^^**

**LaMindy: I went into the feelings a bit in this chapter, so enjoy;)**

**so here's the next chapter, hope you like it:D**

* * *

"You-killed-my-nakama-you-_BASTARDS_!" Luffy screamed as he unleashed his wrath on the startled Marines, anger and pain clear in his face. The Marines were shocked, to say the least. They had actually killed _Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro_! Disbelief was etched in their faces. The commanding officer flinched slightly as he saw the anger, bloodlust and pure thirst for revenge in the Straw Hat crews' eyes. If they fought this battle, he realized, they'd end up dead.

"Retreat! All Marine soldiers to return to the Marine base!"

The Marines were confused at this order. Surely the crew was at its weakest with one of their numbers taken out? Nevertheless they followed their orders, sailing away from the Thousand Sunny at a reasonable pace.

"Oh, no. You don't get away that easily." Sanji growled; his composure regained.

"Usopp, Chopper," his voice cracking slightly as he glanced down at the body by his feet, "take Zoro to the hold." Gulping, the two nodded their understanding and picked him up.

"Right, let's go. Right, Luffy?"

Sanji frowned at the lack of answer. He turned around to find that Luffy had already set off, the distant cry of "Gomu Gomu no... GATLING!" giving him answer enough.

"What are we waiting for? Let's kick some Marine ass!" Sanji yelled, fires starting in his eyes.

The rest of the crew nodded. For Zoro. They would mourn him later. Now was the time for revenge.

* * *

Two hours later, they had defeated the Marines and their incredible loss was beginning to sink in. They had decided on a Viking burial for their passed-on nakama; they would set a small rowing boat containing the green-haired man's body sailing and Usopp would set it alight with a flame star. They had moved him into a small room in the belly of the ship in order to give their friends some privacy when they said goodbye. One by one, they came to pay their respects.

* * *

First of all came Franky. He had known the swordsman for the shortest length of time, shared the fewest memories, but he had respected Zoro as a nakama.

"Zoro-bro, you being dead, it's not supa, ne? I dunno how Straw-Hat and the rest are gonna hold up without you. You were the rock, the support we all needed to keep our feet on the ground. Now you're gone, well... everyone's gonna start drifting away." And the cyborg ran out of the room, holding his arm over his eyes and claiming that he was definitely _not _crying.

* * *

Next up was Robin. She, while being a relatively new recruit of the Straw-hat crew, felt like she had understood the swordsman well enough. They had been quite alike in some ways. Always taking things in their own stride, never betraying their emotions, always dependable upon in battle.

"Bushido-san, we miss you. You were always so dependable, we always knew that, no matter what the odds, you always had our backs." She paused to brush the quickly-forming tears from the corners of her eyes.

"Goodbye, Bushido-san. May you find peace."

She strode out, deceivingly emotionless as ever. Only if you looked very carefully could you tell by her slightly red eyes that her feelings were stronger than she chose to let on.

* * *

The next mourner to enter the room was Chopper. The little reindeer was sobbing heart-wrenching sobs, holding his hat in his hooves as a sign of respect.

"Zoro, you- you were like a big brother to me. Wiser, stronger, braver than I could ever be. And now you're gone, and I couldn't, didn't do anything to save you! We've been through so much together, had so many adventures, and now you're gone because of some damn Marine?"

Chopper shook his furry head in disbelief.

"Goodbye, Zoro. I'll miss you."

* * *

Sanji entered next. He still couldn't quite believe that he would never see Zoro again, never have to tell the insensitive bastard not to eat food clearly meant for ladies, never trip over his sleeping form sprawled inconveniently across the deck. He wasn't even smoking.

What the hell do you think you're doing, seaweed brain? Dying like that. We still have unfinished business, fights to fight!"

Trailing off, he began again, but this time softer, more gentle.

"Why did you do it, huh? Why take that bullet for me? Do you have any idea how guilty I feel? Did you think of anyone other than yourself?"

Pointless questions. He knew the answers already. He had done it because they were nakama, and, no matter how hard they tried to hide it behind their constant bickering, they respected each other, enjoyed each other's company. Because it was his job, his duty as first mate to protect the crew. And in those moments he never spared a thought for himself. It was why he was such a brilliant first mate, such a worthy friend. But God, it hurt. It hurt to think that if he had been more careful, had seen that bullet, Zoro would be fine. It hurt to realize that it was all his fault.

"Goodbye, Marimo-head. Sorry for killing you."

* * *

He stormed off towards his kitchen, unshed tears shining in his eyes.

Walking in nervously, Usopp came to pay his respects to the first mate, much like the other crewmembers before him. He had thought long and hard about what to say, but simply nothing the sniper could put into words seemed to do the fallen swordsman justice. How could he put the respect, the admiration he had felt into words? Instead he bore a sketch-book, full of drawings of Zoro having fun with the crew. Some were drawn from memory, but most had been drawn at the time. Tentatively, he placed it in the man's pocket. Suddenly he started bawling as he realized those times could never come again. Roronoa Zoro was gone, never coming back.

"I'm gonna miss you, Zoro!"

Tears flowing down his cheeks, he raced off to find somewhere secret to hide and cry.

* * *

Nami's turn came. She bit her lip as she entered the room and saw the body of her friend. She had promised never to cry again. How dare the green-haired idiot make her break her promise? She would add another 5 thousand beli to his debt... She froze as she realized what she had been thinking. There was no holding the tears back now, the floodgates were opened.

"Waaah! Zoro, you idiot! Why did you die!"

Suddenly she grew angry as she realized something.

"You still owe me 20 million beli!"

* * *

Last of all came Luffy. Has was taking it worst of all, no matter how hard he tried to hide it behind fake grins and hollow laughter. Zoro had always been there, right from the beginning when he had only been an overenthusiastic teenager with a small rowing boat and a huge dream.

"Zoro, you were always there for us, for me. You helped me come as close as I am to my dream, there's no way I would have made it this far without you. But you DIDN'T HAVE TO GIVE UP YOURS, DAMMIT! We were gonna be the best, you and me! TOGETHER!"

He sank to his knees, the pain of losing a nakama almost too much for the small boy to bear. He sobbed huge tears, tears for his friend, his first mate.

"WHY ZORO? We still had so much more to do! SO MUCH MORE!" he yelled, hammering the floor with each of the last three words.

Pulling his treasured straw hat over his eyes to hide the tears still spilling out of his eyes, he left the room.

* * *

Franky had built a wooden boat for the fallen swordsman, and Luffy had insisted on placing the body of their fallen comrade in the boat himself. They had, at Sanji's insistence, placed some salad in there as well, to commemorate the swordsman's much-despised nickname, Marimo. After much debate, they had decided to leave his swords with him. No matter how much they would treasure them, Zoro would have wanted to have them with him.

With a final wiping of his eyes, Franky set the boat into motion. The only sound was Chopper sniffing. Usopp aimed his weapon, ready to shoot, but suddenly he burst into tears.

"I-I can't do it!"

The Strawhat Crew nodded their understanding. They sincerely doubted that they would have been able to do the same, had they been in the sniper's position.

Silently they watched their crewmate disappear over the horizon. Roronoa Zoro was gone, gone forever.

* * *

Or so they thought.

* * *

The green haired man in the tiny boat groaned. What _had_ he been drinking last night? He made to sit up but was suddenly stopped by a searing pain in his chest. He glanced down to see a trickle of fresh blood oozing from a small hole in his chest. Bullet wound, he noted absently. Woah. He had been shot, and was treating like no big deal? How had he gotten into this situation? Come to think of it, why was he in a small boat with no means of steering whatsoever, full of... was that salad? And, most important of all, just who was he exactly?

* * *

**I just couldn't kill off Zoro, I'm sorry:c he's like the best character!**

**Don't get me wrong, I have the plot all thought out. Well, thought out enough.**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it, apologies on the shortness factor:)**

**please review, tell me what you think, if I've ruined it etc. ;)**

**oh yea, and tell me if you wanna see any pairings! I'll do any except ones with Nami (i hate her, don't know why)  
**

**Jelly xx  
**


	3. Mind Games

**OMG I got TEN REVIEWS! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! THANKS SO MUCH GUYS!^^**

**Anyways, you should know by now that I don't own One Piece. If you didn't:**

**1) You're an idiot. :bb**

**2) I just told you that I don't, so now you know;)**

**here's the next chapter, enjoy!**

* * *

There was an eerie silence over the Thousand Sunny as the night slowly set in. As any acquaintance of the Strawhats would know, the crew was hardly capable of being quiet over the space of ten minutes, yet alone the week or so they had been sulking. But their silence was not odd under the circumstances; after all, it had only been a week since their nakama's untimely passing. They were all dealing with their grief in different ways.

Luffy had taken up residence in the captain's quarters, refusing to come out except for meals. Even at mealtimes the change in the boy was startling; Sanji had seen anorexics eat more food than his captain ate. The others agreed, it was strange to not have to defend their food against thieving rubber arms and actually have all of their portions of food.

Sanji spent his entire time in the kitchen making dish after extravagant dish, no matter how often the crew insisted that they couldn't possibly eat anywhere near that much. He always set an extra place, entirely by accident of course, but it was still enough to send Luffy in the other direction until he had cleared it away.

Usopp and Franky built inventions that were of absolutely no use to anyone whatsoever, locking themselves into the specially-prepared inventing room sometimes for days on end.

Chopper was producing Rumble Balls and various medicines by the bucket-load, uncaring that he would have absolutely no use for about half of the remedies he had produced.

Nami was planning the routes they were most likely to take in around two years, completely forgetting (or perhaps ignoring) the fact that on the Grand Line, and with a captain as changeable as Luffy, all planning tended to be for naught.

Robin, having read through her enormous library, was re-reading every book in her possession, not caring that she knew almost all of them by heart.

But, no matter how hard they tried to distract themselves, Zoro refused to leave their thoughts. His smile, his laugh, how he would spend all of his time either training or napping in the most inconvenient place possible, his endless fights with Sanji, his willingness to sacrifice himself for any of his friends.

No, under the circumstances, the silence was not odd at all.

* * *

Zoro groaned. He had been drifting aimlessly through the sea for, he guessed, around seven days and he knew that he couldn't last much longer. He had eaten all of the bizarre salad that had been surrounding him, but no water had been left with him and there were no rainclouds in sight. He had discovered the three swords lying beside him a while back. He had no idea as to why anyone would want three swords; surely nobody could fight with that many? But, nonetheless, he felt a strong bond with all three of the katanas. Suddenly he spotted a ship on the horizon. Oh joy, he thought ironically, another delusion. He had had several over the past few days, hunger and thirst being the main cause. Pulling himself up to look closer, he felt the world spin as he realized just how badly he needed a drink. Unable to hold onto consciousness any longer, he collapsed face down in his tiny boat, hand dangling over the edge and making ripples in the calm water.

"There's someone on that boat!"

Zoro heard the faint shout from the ship far away. He was quite impressed at just how far the man could see; he wouldn't have expected them to have even spotted the boat itself, tiny as it was. But that made him sound like he actually believed the man or even the ship existed. No! He had fallen for the tricks of his own mind once too often. Even when the ship was close enough to touch it, he hesitated. The ships his fevered brain had created had often come this close...

Suddenly he felt someone step onto the tiny craft, sending the small vessel hopelessly off balance. Not that he was in any fit state to protest. Or talk at all, for that matter.

"Well well, what have we here?" the stranger asked him, eyes glinting mischievously. Zoro opened his mouth to attempt to speak, but black spots started

appearing in his field of vision. Before he could stop himself, he collapsed on the stranger in a dead faint.

* * *

Ben Beckman was worried about the young man they had found in that small boat. He had collapsed on top of him out of complete exhaustion when they had first found him, and he had of course brought him to the ship's doctor. He was suffering from severe dehydration, and to a lesser extent malnutrition. On examining his patient, the doctor had been shocked to find a bullet wound in his chest, just below his heart. The wound was obviously at least a week old and untreated, as it had started to fester, making the job of healing the green-haired stranger more difficult than the doctor would have anticipated. They had discovered three swords beside him, bizarrely enough. He hoped the kid would survive the night. He had some interesting stories to tell, it would seem.

* * *

The Thousand Sunny was like a ghost ship. The Straw Hats were all very engaged in their respective (if rather useless) tasks, attempting to take their minds off of the events of the past week. Lookout duty had not been assigned, as nobody really fancied sitting in the crow's nest for hours on end, giving their minds a chance to get lost in painful memories. None of them therefore noticed the small, bizarre boat that pulled up right next to them, or spotted the occupant leave his vessel and board the silent ship.

But hey, what they didn't know couldn't hurt them, right?

* * *

**dun-dun-duuun! *Insert dramatic music here* **

**anyways, do me a favour and review^^**

**tell me if you liked it, hated it etc.**

**I'll love you forever (but not in a creepy kind of way)**

**Next Chapter: Zoro meets Shanks, the Straw Hats meet the mysterious intruder...**

**in short: it's gonna get interesting^^**

******Jelly xx**

******Oh, and I think I'm gonna make this story nakamaship rather than any pairings, sorry if it's not what you wanted;)**


	4. Introductions

**Thanks so much for reviewing! honestly it means soo much to me^^**

**Especially huge thanks to Chibi-Onee-Chan and sabymonster for the continued(?) reviewing:DD i 3 you guys^^**

**Anyways, on with the chapter!**

**(PS I don't own One Piece, and I have run out of clever ways to say it. But never fear, I shall startle you all with my wit and brilliance again next chapter! xDD)**

* * *

Robin awoke from her slumber at the sounds of the intruder boarding the ship. She was a very light sleeper, and especially tonight, as there had been no lookout, she was nervous for their safety. They may have needed to have a break from the world at the moment, but that didn't mean that they would get one. Deciding against waking Nami in the bed next to her, after all, sleep was quite a hard thing to find aboard this ship full of memories, she used her powers to grow an eye from the main mast of the Thousand Sunny. The stranger had his back to her, and she didn't recognize him. She decided to take action. But she would talk to him first. She would give the poor soul a chance to run before she killed him. She was in a good mood today.

* * *

Zoro awoke in a hammock in the sickbay, feeling more refreshed than he could remember being. This didn't count for much, admittedly, considering just how much he could remember. He soon got into a conversation with the man on watch, who seemed very friendly. He liked him. His name was Ben Beckman, as he soon discovered, and he was the first mate of the pirate captain to whom this ship belonged. The captain himself, he was informed, was currently lying in his quarters with a killer hangover. Judging by Ben's expression, this was quite a regular occurrence. As he had feared, the conversation quickly veered towards just how he had come to be lying in a small boat with nothing but three swords. At the mention of the swords, the green-haired man felt a knot of fear in his stomach as he realized that he didn't know where they were. Ben Beckman chuckled at the man's reaction, before handing him his clearly treasured possessions. Sighing, Zoro spoke up.

"I... don't know. I can't remember anything." Ben looked at him, intrigued.

"Nothing at all?"

"No. But I know that these swords mean a lot to me, for some reason. Other than that... OUCH!" he hissed as he attempted to sit up and felt a sharp pain in his chest. He pulled back his shirt to see bandages encircling his chest. A small speck of red appeared, contrasting strongly with the clinical whiteness of the bandages, and growing quickly in size. Ben eyed the wound warily, clearly unsure as to whether he should call the doctor.

"I'll be fine. I've clearly been through worse." Zoro stated, gesturing towards his many scars. Suddenly Ben stood up from where he had been sitting during his conversation with the amnesiac swordsman and made to leave.

"Wait! Where are you going?" the bedridden man asked nervously.

"To talk to the captain. I'm sure he'll be interested in meeting you." With a cryptic smile, Ben left the room.

* * *

The man on the ship was confused, to say the least. This ship clearly belonged to Luffy, the sails and flag bore his emblem after all. But why was no one on guard duty? Didn't they realize how dangerous it was to not have any way of warning, should an ambush approach? Suddenly he spotted a figure standing on the higher side of the deck.

"What do you want? Why are you here?" The figure, a woman, he noted, asked calmly.

"I'm here to see Luffy. Why?" he was confused. He had thought he knew Luffy's crew, but this woman was definitely unfamiliar.

"No one may see him. He is... indisposed." The stranger grew angry. He didn't like how the woman had said that. He wanted to see Luffy, and this woman was not going to get in his way.

"Listen lady. I'm not gonna argue with you. I want to see Luffy. I'm gonna see Luffy. That's all there is to it."

The strange woman sighed.

"Very well. You brought it on yourself. I was going to spare your life, but if you insist..."

She crossed her forearms and whispered something the stranger couldn't make out. Suddenly five arms grew out of the ship's deck and grabbed him. But before she could snap his neck, he unleashed his own devil-fruit ability that made her scream with pain and let go of him instantly.

"Don't play with fire. You get burnt." He said coldly.

* * *

Sanji jolted awake as he heard the scream of his lovely Robin-chan. Disorientated, he looked around blearily, noticing that everyone else was in much the same position. Suddenly he remembered what had woken him. His darling Robin-chan had screamed! Fires building up in his eyes, he swore eternal revenge on whoever had caused his angel to scream as he ran outside, closely followed by the rest of the male crewmembers. Even Luffy seemed to have momentarily forgotten his moping in order to run and help his endangered crewmate. The sight awaiting them was enough to make them wonder if they were still dreaming. Robin lay hunched up in a corner, tears sparkling in her eyes as a man stood over her, completely hidden by shadow, holding something burning in his fist. Sanji could restrain himself no longer. He unleashed a brutal kick on the man who had his back to him.

"HOW DARE YOU HURT MY ROBIN-CHAN?" he screamed. To the Strawhats' amazement, the kick made almost no impact on him whatsoever, as he turned around to face him.

"Honestly, if she starts a fight... All I wanna do is talk to Luffy, is that that unreasonable to you people?" the stranger murmured. Suddenly Luffy frowned. He knew that voice! But from where?

"Why do you want to talk to me?" Luffy asked coldly, walking forwards towards the man. If only he could see him properly! The shadows were really annoying. The stranger groaned.

"Don't tell me you're mad at me too!" Luffy was confused. Surely this guy knew what would happen if he hurt one of his crew?

"You hurt my nakama. Of course I'm mad at you." Now it was the man's turn to look confused.

"Your nakama? Oh shit! I thought..." The intruder stepped forwards, out of the shadows.

Sanji, Chopper, Nami and Usopp gasped. Luffy went one step further, his jaw hitting the deck with an almost comical smash.

"ACE?"

* * *

Ben Beckman entered the darkened captain's quarters, grinning as he heard Shanks' moans of protest at the small ray of light.

"Rise and shine!" he called in a falsetto voice. Shanks moaned.

"Stop yelling! I will rise, but I refuse to shine!" he told him childishly, sticking his tongue out.

Ben groaned. He hated it when his captain was in such a childish mood, as he always ended up the butt of his many pranks. Well, he claimed to hate it, but everyone really knew that he secretly enjoyed the captain's antics.

"We have a rather interesting visitor, so make yourself presentable! You are one of the Four Emperors, remember." Shanks grimaced at him.

"Yes, mother. Who is it?" Ben smirked as Shanks' curiosity got the better of him, even in his present sulk.

"That's a good question. I believe he would like to know that too."

Shanks growled. Why was Ben always so damn mysterious?

* * *

Portgas D. Ace looked down at the girl he had been attacking a while ago.

"I'm sorry. If you'd just said you were Luffy's nakama..." He offered her a hand up, which she took, albeit a bit hesitantly.

"Do not worry. I have been hurt worse before. A lot worse." She muttered darkly. A little taken aback at the girl's reaction, he turned towards Luffy. Behind him, he could hear someone, he guessed the weird blond cook, fussing over her and going on about how brave she had been to defend the ship against the brutish bastard (Ace was seemingly not forgiven for hurting his beautiful Robin-chan).

"Look, Luffy, I'm really sorry about hurting your nakama. I swear I didn't mean to. If I'd known-" Ace was interrupted as Luffy tackled him gleefully, winding his arms and legs around him so tightly that the elder brother looked like a mummy.

"AAAAAAAAAAACE!"

Ace grinned. He was, it seemed, forgiven.

* * *

Zoro looked up as Shanks entered the room. Upon spotting him, the red haired pirate grinned.

"Ah! So you're the stranger we found on that tiny boat!" Ben, who had appeared next to him, snorted.

"We?" Shanks rolled his eyes at him.

"Fine. You're the stranger _Ben_ found on that tiny boat. Way to ruin my entrance."

Ben smirked at him.

"You're welcome."

Zoro watched the two with a smirk. Suddenly he chuckled. When he saw the quizzical looks he received, he explained.

"You two are like an old married couple!"

Normally Zoro would know better than to provoke potentially very dangerous pirates while he was bedridden, but there was something about Shanks that completely put him off guard. Ben blushed, and Shanks threw his head back and started laughing an incredibly loud laugh.

"Awww look, we've made poor Benny blush!" Shanks cooed over the mortified first mate.

"Oh shut up." Ben growled. Shanks guffawed. Suddenly remembering the reason for his visit to the sickbay., he stretched out his hand towards the man lying on the bed and introduced himself.

"Name's Red Haired Shanks." Zoro took it and grinned.

"As to my name, your guess is as good as mine."

"Well, it's nice to meet you anyways! You've already met Ben over there," he gestured towards the still-red first mate in the corner, "and I'll introduce ya to the rest of my crew when you're able to stand up."

Zoro grimaced as he remembered his plight.

"Ok, could you do me a favour?" Shanks looked at him questioningly.

"What do you want?"

"Dumbbells. I gotta train; otherwise I'll go mad cooped up in here so long." Shanks shrugged and nodded. You sure met some weird people on the Grand Line.

* * *

**There you go! I actually had this almost finished for a few days, but I was/am really worried about just how OOC Ace is:s**

**Please forgive me **bows to reader (and hopefully reviewer hint hint)****

**You know the drill, review and tell me what you think!^^**

**Jelly xx**

** PS what do you think would be a good nickname for Zoro? Shanks is very much the nickname-giving type, or at least he is in my stories!**


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